Six Weeks' Tour through Denmark, Sweden, and Norway
| 1st day | Hamburg to Copenhagen, via Kiel and Korsoer ( ten hours). |
| 2d day 3d day 4th day |
Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, with its ^ four Royal Palaces, Picture Gallery, Thorwald- sen Museum and Mausoleum, Church of our Lady, Rosenborg Castle, etc. Excursion to Elsi- nore, the home of Hamlet |
5th day |
Christiania (twenty-four hours by boat or fifteen hours by train). The capital of Norway, now a separate and independent kingdom after having been united with Sweden for ninety -one years (1814-1905). The chief places and objects of interest are the Royal Palace, the University buildings, the Viking Ship, the Parliament House, St. Hanshaugen, Mount Holmenskollen and Oscarshall. The last named, a pleasure chateau of the king, is worth visiting, if only for the charming view to be obtained from the summit of its polygon tower. |
| 8th day | Dalen. Leave Christiania by train for Skien, thence by steamer on the Loveid Canal, through Lakes Nordsjo, Flaavand and Bandak. The route is one of surpassing beauty, exceeding that of the famous Gota Canal in grandeur of scenery |
| 9th day | Haukeli. Drive through the Tokedjuv, skirting Lake Borrevand to Haukeli, on the summit of the Telemarken. |
| 10th day | Roldal. Drive from Haukeli to Roldal across Mount Haukeli. |
| 11th day | Naes. Drive through the famous Bratlandsdal to Naes, one of the most wonderful roads in Norway. It is advisable to walk the last 'mile of the journey, to better appreciate the scenery. |
| 12th day | Suledal Lake. Excursion to Osen on Suledal Lake, one of the most beautiful sheets of water in Norway. Tourists from England can leave either from Newcastle or Hull — by steamer to Stavanger in about twenty-four hours from Newcastle and thirty hours from Hull; thence by steamer to Sand in about five hours and a half, and carriole to Osen, on Suledal Lake, in an hour and a half |
| 13th day | Return from Nses by the Bratlandsdal to Haukeli. |
| 14th day | Odda. Drive across Mount Roldal through the famous Gorge of Seljestad, passing en route the Grand Espelandsfos, Laatefos and Skarsfos. |
| 15th day | Vossevangen. Leave Odda by steamer through the Sorfjord, a branch of the Hardanger Fjord on which the scenery is very fine, to Eide; then drive past the Skjcervenfos to the charming . village of Vossevangen (or Voss). This place is very delightfully situated. |
| 16th day | Leave Voss by the wonderful mountain railroad for Bergen, a distance of about sixty-seven miles. In some places the railway runs along an embankment on the water's edge, built of solid masonry ; in other places the track rests on a ledge cut out of the face of the precipice which rises like a wall out of the fjord |
| 17th day | Bergen. The second city of Norway in population and commerce. The site of Bergen forms a crescent around a magnificent bay, environed by mountains rising to over 2,000 feet. The fish business is a leading industry of Bergen, and the fish-market is one of the principal sights of the city. An interesting excursion is to the Stavekirke at Fantoft, and to Os, a favorite pleasure resort commanding magnificent views of the snow-covered ranges of the Hardanger Mountains. |
| 18th day | Leave Bergen by tourist steamer for Trond- heim, entering the principal fjords en route. The steamer leaves weekly during the summer season, generally Saturday, and connects at Trondheim with the North Cape steamers. |
| 19th day | On the Sogne Fjord, the steamer proceeding as far as Gudvangen (at the entrance of the Naerodal), overshadowed by huge mountains, so that in winter the sun's rays never reach it. The Naerofjord on which Gudvangen is located is the grandest of all the ramifications of the Sogne Fjord, and is only about half a mile wide. |
| 20th day | On the Nordf jord, to Visnaes. Drive to Mindre Sunde, and take steamer across Lake Stryn to Hjelle. Drive through the Via Valley to Grotli, where the night is spent at the Tourist Chalet, at the summit of the Grotli Pass. |
| 21st day | Geiranger Fjord. Drive from Grotli across the pass to Merok, on the wonderful Geiranger Fjord. Flanked by mountains 5,000 feet high, Geiranger is the grandest of the Norwegian fjords. Rejoin the steamer from Bergen, which leaves Merok in the afternoon. |
| 22d day | On the Romsdals Fjord, landing at Na^s, and drive along the Rauma River, commanding fine views of the mountains, among which the Romsdalshorn (5,965 feet) stands out like the Matterhorn. |
| 23d day | Trondheim. This city was founded by Olaf Trygvesson, the first Christian king of Norway, in 996, and is the largest city in as high a latitude as 63° 25', having about 40,000 inhabitants. The great Cathedral, where kings of Norway must be crowned, at the time of its completion, A.D. 1300, stood amongst the foremost of the cathedrals of Europe. Comparatively little of the original building now remains. Disastrous fires and less stately restoration had obliterated most of its early magnificence; but the regrowth of true patriotism in the Norwegian people during the last generation has been fruitful in good fortune for their ancient church. Careful, artistic restoration, after ages of neglect and ruin, is justifying its claim still to be the noblest, as it has always been the most venerated, of the churches of Protestant Norway. At Trondheim the traveler changes steamers and continues the sea trip to the North Cape. |
| 24th day | Svartisen. An enormous field of snow and ice, covering a plateau thirty-five miles in length and ten miles wide. This is the only glacier in Europe which extends its arms down to the sea. |
| 25th day | Tromsoe. The final starting point for exploring expeditions to the polar regions, and headquarters of the arctic whalers, and seal and walrus hunters. The Museum contains interesting collections of objects contributed by arctic explorers. |
| 26th day | Hammerfest and the North Cape. Hammer- fest is the northernmost town in the world, 70° 40' north latitude (the same as Point Barrow, the northern extremity of Alaska), and has a population of 2,100. The country around is very bleak and the hills without vegetation. Here the sun remains above the horizon from the i3th of May to the 2Qth of July, and disappears entirely from the 20th of November to the 2ist of January. Notwithstanding the long absence of direct sunlight, the temperature in midwinter is so mild along the coast and up the longest fjords that the waters never freeze, and sea-fishing is carried on all winter in the Hammerfest region. |
| 26th day | [day # sic]The steamer passing the island of Hjelmso, the home of myriads of sea-fowl, arrives in the evening at the North Cape (969 feet), 71° n' N., 26° 39' E., the goal of the voyage. The view of the cape, rising wedgelike out of the Arctic Sea, is most striking. On the summit is an Obelisk, erected to commemorate a visit of King Oscar II in 1873. |
| 27th day | Leave the North Cape in the morning, reaching Lyngenfjord in the afternoon, where there is generally an encampment of Lapps with their herd of reindeer, forming a striking contrast to their brother nomads of the Sahara. |
| 28th day | Pass the Lofoten Islands. |
| 29th day | Stop at the island of Torget, associated with several Norse legends. Here is the famous Torghattan, a gigantic cave, or tunnel, 540 feet in length. |
| 30th day | Trondheim, from which point Christiania can be reached by rail in eighteen hours and Stockholm in twenty-six hours. Leave by train for Ostersund (ten hours), a popular Swedish summer resort, and a pleasant place in which to break the journey |
| 31st day 32d day 33d day |
Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, reached by train in ten hours from Ostersund, is called the " Venice of the North, and surely it is one of the most beautiful cities of Europe, with its Royal Palace, Riddarholms-Kyrka, the resting place of Sweden's kings and heroes. Excursion to Upsala, the famous university town, and to the old and very interesting town of Visby', on the island of Gotland. |
| 34th day | Giota Canal. Leave Stockholm by steamer for a three days' trip through the famous Gota Canal to Gothenburg. The total length of this wonderful waterway is 240 miles, of which distance the greater part is natural waterway, and the rest of it canal, 56 miles. Shortly after leaving Stockholm Lake Malar is entered. This is the third largest of the Great Lakes of Sweden, but the first in beauty. Its shores are studded with palaces and splendid villas. |
| 35th day | Lake Vettern is entered, with water transparently clear, and the pretty villages on its borders framed in dense masses of vari-tinted foliage. |
| 36th day | Lake Venern to Trollhattan, to view the famous Falls; arrive at Gothenburg in the evening. |
| 37th day | Gothenburg, intersected by canals and spanned by more than thirty bridges, is a clean, bright place and a very enjoyable one. Excursion to Marstrand, a favorite place of King Oscar. |
| 38th day | Leave by steamer in the evening for Copenhagen |
| 39th day | Copenhagen. Excursion to Frederiksborg and Fredensborg. |
| 40th day | Hamburg, via Nyborg and Vamdrup. |
